Simon Hoyle has been a finance journalist for more than 25 years – a finance journalist because the football and motorsports rounds at The Age were filled when he was awarded a cadetship. He worked on BRW and Personal Investment magazines, and was part of the team that launched Money Management. Hoyle spent 11 years at the Australian Financial Review before moving on to be an investment writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian. He was appointed editor of Professional Planner in November 2007.

Glenn Freeman is a senior journalist for Professional Planner. He has around three years’ experience in financial services journalism, having also covered broader areas of business including M&A activity and energy. His journalistic experience includes five years spent abroad, where he was editor of an oil and gas title in the United Arab Emirates along with other in-house and freelance projects, which included stints in motorcycle and automotive journalism.

CFP network growing overseas and at home

The number of Certified Financial Planners across the world has grown in the last year, with more than a quarter of Australian advisers holding the global professional designation.

A recent release from the Financial Planning Standards Board (FSPB) states that there were 175,573 registered CFP professionals in 25 countries at the end of 2017, after 15,726 gained the distinction last year.

The FPSB reported a global net gain of only 5472 CFP designations, which indicates more than 10,000 planners lost the credential. The board is forecasting much stronger growth in the medium term. FPSB chief executive Noel Maye says the aim is to have 250,000 CFP professionals in 40 territories by 2025.

“With a global CFP professional growth rate of 3.2 per cent last year within the FPSB network,” Maye says, “and talks underway in over 10 additional territories, FPSB is making solid progress in its efforts to increase the public’s access to competent and ethical financial planners who work in their clients’ interest.”

The US continues to drive growth in CFP designations, adding 3275 in the last year. It now has more than 80,000 certified members, and the Americas represent 56 per cent of total global membership; 35 per cent comes from Asia, with China, Japan, and Chinese Taipei experiencing strong growth in new memberships. Europe (5 per cent), Africa (3 per cent), and the Middle East (1 per cent) are also represented. Currently, 5702 Australian planners are CFPs.

Aside from the US, Japan and Australia are two of the more subscribed nations, per capita. The Japan Association for Financial Planners introduced the CFP certification program after signing an affiliation with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards in 1992, whilst the Financial Planning Association leads the program in Australia.

Ben Marshan, head of policy and government regulations at the FPA, explains the relationship between the FPA and the FPSB: “The FPA is a member organisation of the FPSB and licenses the Certified Financial Planner and CFP marks from the FPSB for use in Australia. The Australian CFP certification program is fully developed and managed by the FPA.”